Bohuslav Martinu: Nonet No. 2 H 374: Ensemble de Chambre

Martinu’s Nonet No. 2 was composed in 1959, the final year of his life. It was commissioned by the ensemble Czech Nonet which premiered the piece at the Salzburg Festival and it appeared in print posthumously in autumn of thatsame year.

The principal source for this edition was Martinu’s autograph score. A photo-reproduction of the autograph with handwritten entries by the performers was used as a reference source as well as the first edition,which includes several amendments made by the Czech Nonet and authorised by the composer. Also taken into account were the corrections found in the correspondence between Martinu and violinist Emil Leichner, the ensemble’sartisticdirector. Unlike the version in the complete edition, the clarinet part has been transposed for the clarinet in B-flat.